The Detroit Lions still have needs, but they’re not desperate for a dopamine hit, and that’s a good thing
Detroit Lions edge math kills the dopamine hit idea. A snap count experiment shows the roster is already crowded — so where would these guys even get to play real snaps?
We’re less than 100 days away from the start of the Detroit Lions’ 2026 season. Free agency is over, and the draft is over, too. Training camp is set to begin in just over a month. But some Lions fans are just not done yet. They need one more thing.
You can guess what that is, right? It’s an edge rusher. Despite the Lions signing D.J. Wonnum and Peyton Turner and drafting Derrick Moore and Tyre West, some Lions fans want something else.
Some Lions fans want a dopamine hit, and the Lions are luckily probably not looking to give it to them with Za’Darius Smith, A.J. Epenesa, or any other bad decision with name value
I get it. Signings are fun, and they’re sexy, and you can logic yourself into why they make sense just so you can feel what it feels like when they happen. But these just don’t.
Smith is 34 years old and abruptly retired a few weeks into the season last year. He hadn’t done much at all before that. There’s no guarantee that he even wants to unretire at this point. Even if he does, it doesn’t make much sense to add him.
Epenesa signed a one-year, $5 million deal with the Browns during free agency, but was then released because he did not pass his physical. That was in March. 31 other teams didn’t sign him until June, when the Eagles took a flier on him, and now there are fans and some local media wondering if the Lions are going to regret not signing him. Like, Epenesa wasn’t the 87th highest graded edge rusher out of 115 edge rushers last year.
On top of those two guys, we’re frequently asked about other players that the rest of the league hasn’t signed, like Cam Jordan or Jadeveon Clowney. Those guys are likely to find homes after training camp, but I doubt Detroit is the place they find it.
At the end of the day, where are these guys playing? That’s the thing you have to ask yourself. Let’s do an experiment. Let’s project the snap counts for the Lions’ current edge rushers at the end of the 2026 season.
| Player | Snaps | % |
|---|---|---|
| Hutchinson | 950 | 86% |
| Wonnum | 700 | 64% |
| Moore | 525 | 48% |
| Hassanein | 375 | 34% |
| Turner | 250 | 23% |
| West | 100 | 9% |
| Lacy | 75 | 7% |
| Lucas | 50 | 5% |
Ok, now try to fit Za’Darius Smith into this. Who are you taking snaps away from? Not Wonnum, who is your first and second down option when you want to stop the run more than anything. Not Moore, whom you just spent a second-round pick on, and you want to have out there on pass rush downs, and then work to get him in on early downs while you develop his run-stopping game to make sure he’s your forever edge 2.
So now Smith is down to where Hassanein is. 375 snaps. But you don’t want to take those away from Hassanein because you have high hopes for him to be your big end depth guy. Maybe it’s Turner? Maybe you have Smith take the snaps from your pass rush specialist. But can you convince Smith, who has never played less than 400 snaps since his rookie season, to come out of retirement to play 250 snaps? Probably not.
The Lions have some needs, but it’s not at edge. There’s just no feasibility to it right now. A dopamine hit isn’t going to open up snaps and make it feasible. If anything, the Lions need more help on the interior of their defensive line. They could use some more help at linebacker as well. But they’re good to go at edge right now.
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